One aspect of the invention relates to surgical tools in the form of an elongated shaft and tip suited for use in phacoemulsification surgical instruments and irrigation-aspiration instruments.
Conventional phacoemulsification tips are sharp and have an overly large port that admits the eye capsule in a blink-of-an-eye. The eye capsule, when sucked into the overly large port, puckers and rips to produce rapidly widening tear lines through which vitreous prolapses, which often leads to vitreous loss. Therefore, the use such conventional phacoemulsification tips that are sharp with the overly large port run the risk of causing capsule ruptures, which is a very serious intraoperaive, i.e., surgical, complication.
There is therefore a need to reduce such a risk of causing capsule ruptures, i.e., by avoiding the use of conventional phacoemulsification tips that are sharp and that have an overly large port. That is, there is a need for phacoemulsification tips that are safe in the sense that they are not as likely to cause capsule ruptures. That is, the surgical tool should be “capsule friendly” to lessen the likelihood of creating capsule ruptures during their use in phacoemulsification surgical procedures or in irrigation-aspiration applications of the eye.